San Francisco Will Clear Thousands of Marijuana Convictions

Thousands of people with misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession dating back 40 years will have their criminal records cleared, the San Francisco district attorney’s office said Wednesday. San Diego is also forgiving old convictions.

Recreational marijuana became legal in California this year, and the law allowed those with prior low-level offenses to petition for expungement, a process that can be costly.

But in San Francisco and San Diego, people need not ask. George Gascón, San Francisco’s district attorney, said his office would automatically erase convictions there, which total about 3,000.

An additional 4,900 felony marijuana charges will be examined by prosecutors to determine if they should be retroactively reduced to misdemeanors.

San Diego has identified 4,700 cases, both felonies and misdemeanors, that will be cleared or downgraded.

California was far from the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, but it is at the forefront of offering relief to people convicted of offenses that would not get them in trouble today.

A number of cities even decided to give preference to those who have previous marijuana convictions when giving out licenses to sell it legally. Oakland reserved at least half of its eight annual dispensary licenses for what it calls equity applicants, which include not only those convicted of marijuana-related crimes, but those who live in neighborhoods that had a disproportionately higher number of cannabis-related arrests. On Wednesday, officials there used a bingo machine to choose the four winners among 36 applicants.

Other places have taken a different tack. In Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed legislation last year that would have allowed people convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana to have their convictions vacated, even though that is no longer a criminal offense.

And in Colorado, it took five years after voters approved recreational marijuana use before the state passed legislation last year that allows people with pot convictions to apply to have their records cleared. That did not occur until after California voters approved their law.

The result has been legal limbo: People whose behavior would not now be considered illegal are sometimes unable to find work, get college loans, obtain professional licenses, or find decent housing because of the blot on their record.

Those who argue against expunging criminal records say people who violated the law should live with the consequences, regardless of subsequent legal changes.

“In all the other states, the process has been messy,” said Robert Mikos, a professor at Vanderbilt University who studies marijuana law and policy. “But whether people agree with what they did or not, California at least addressed it and there’s value in that.”

Even in California, there is significant variation in how counties are handling misdemeanor marijuana convictions. Some, like Fresno County, are dealing with them on a case-by-case basis, said Steve E. Wright, the county’s assistant district attorney. Jeff Rosen, district attorney of Santa Clara County, said he was working with the local public defender’s office to identify cases. And prosecutors in San Francisco and San Diego have been more proactive, with both cities planning to automatically dismiss misdemeanor convictions and to reduce felony convictions to misdemeanors.

In San Francisco, Mr. Gascón said he wanted to avoid putting people through a process that he said violates the spirit of legalization.

“A lot of people don’t even know they qualify, and I don’t think it’s the right thing to do to make people pay lawyers’ fees and jump through a bunch of hoops to get something they should be getting anyway,” he said.

In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64, which allowed adults 21 and older to buy or possess 28.5 grams of marijuana — about one ounce — or grow up to six plants at a private residence.

California, where cannabis shops began opening Jan. 1, was the sixth state to allow recreational marijuana, following Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada. Voters in Massachusetts and Maine have approved recreational marijuana, though sales have not started in either state. Vermont legalized pot earlier on Jan. 22.

In Washington, D.C., cannabis use is legal, but it cannot be sold commercially.

In Canada, which is moving toward legalization of recreational marijuana this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned that for now, the police and prosecutors will continue to treat pot sales as a crime.

“We recognize that anyone who is currently purchasing marijuana is participating in illegal activity that is funding criminal organizations and street gangs, and therefore we do not want to encourage, in any way, people to engage in that behavior until the law has changed,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters.

10 Things to Anticipate in the Cannabis Space in 2018

Predicting what will happen in the cannabis world is very difficult to do from year to year. Every new year brings new opportunities for cannabis industry growth in states that have already reformed their cannabis laws, as well as the possibility of more states legalizing cannabis for adult and/or medical use.

This year was a big year for cannabis, despite not being an election year. Legal states are estimated to bring in $655 million in state taxes on cannabis retail sales by the end of 2017. The cannabis industry now employs as many as 230,000 people via full and part-time jobs. Youth cannabis consumption rates are not rising in the post-legalization era and other doomsday predictions made by cannabis opponents prior to legalization are proving to be unfounded as time goes on.

The cannabis movement’s momentum has never been greater than it is now, and that momentum will continue to build with no end in sight.

What will 2018 bring in regards to cannabis reform efforts and the cannabis industry? Below are 10 things to watch for in the new year.

1. More states will likely legalize cannabis for adult use

2018 is an election year, and at least one state is expected to vote on cannabis legalization. The Michigan Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted 360,000 signatures in an effort to place adult-use legalization on the 2018 ballot. 70% of the signatures will need to be valid if the initiative is to be put in front of Michigan voters in November 2018.

Legalize possession of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis while not at an adult’s* residence, with up to 15 grams of that being concentrates

Legalize possession of up to 10 ounces of cannabis at an adult’s residence, plus any cannabis that was legally cultivated at the residence

Legalize the cultivation of up to 12 cannabis plants per each adult’s residence address

Create a taxed and regulated system for adult-use cannabis sales

It’s quite likely that 2018 could see cannabis reform history made with the first-ever legalization of adult-use cannabis via legislative action. Vermont became the first state to see its legislature approve adult-use legalization via legislative action in 2017, however, the measure was vetoed by Vermont’s Governor.

Vermont Governor Phil Scott recently stated that he felt ‘comfortable’ with plans to legalize cannabis in early 2018. Such a move is far from guaranteed, but with strong support in Vermont’s Legislature and a Governor who now feels better about cannabis legalization in his state, it’s definitely something to watch for next year.

New Jersey is another state that appears to have a great chance of legalizing cannabis via legislative action in 2018. New Jersey’s outgoing Governor Chris Christie is one of the biggest cannabis opponents in the nation and has made it no secret that he would veto any cannabis legalization bill that came across his desk. Fortunately for the residents of New Jersey, there is a new Governor coming into office soon, and he strongly supports cannabis legalization. Incoming New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy made cannabis legalization a key part of his campaign leading up to his election victory and stated in his victory speech that he wants to see cannabis legalized in New Jersey ‘within 100 days of taking office.’

Whether or not New Jersey will actually pass a legalization bill within 100 days of Phil Murphy taking office is tough to say for sure, but it is a fairly safe bet that New Jersey will legalize cannabis by the end of 2018. What New Jersey’s legalization model would look like is not clear at this time, which is also true with the state of Vermont. Cannabis supporters will have to wait and see if/when either or both states approve a legalization bill.

2. More states will likely legalize cannabis for medical use

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 29 states have legalized cannabis for medical use. Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico have also legalized medical cannabis. Some of those states have operating medical cannabis industries and others are in the rulemaking or implementation phase.

Seventeen other states have passed cannabidiol-specific (CBD) medical cannabis measures, but those are not included in the NCSL’s tally of medical cannabis states because CBD-specific laws are oftentimes merely symbolic. Only Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, and South Dakota prohibit all forms of medical cannabis.

One state has already qualified for a 2018 vote on medical cannabis. Oklahoma turned in enough valid signatures in 2016 to make a ballot, but not the 2016 ballot. The exact date on which Oklahoma voters will vote on medical cannabis is still undecided, but a vote will absolutely occur in 2018. Oklahoma’s Governor is currently mulling whether to place the initiative on the June 2018 primary ballot, or the 2018 general election ballot in November.

Utah is a state that has already legalized cannabis in CBD-only form. Utah was the first state to pass a CBD-specific measure (2014). A signature gathering effort, led by the Utah Patients Coalition, has been ongoing since June 2017. The effort has until April 15, 2018 to gather at least 113,143 valid signatures in order for the comprehensive medical cannabis initiative to be placed on the November 2018 ballot. The signature-gathering effort is well funded and is expected to be successful. A recent poll shows 73% support for medical cannabis legalization in Utah.

Multiple efforts have been underway in Missouri to put medical cannabis on the ballot in 2018. Missouri was very close to placing medical cannabis on the 2016 ballot, however, the campaign fell short by just 23 signatures. That endeavor, led by New Approach Missouri, is back for a 2018 effort. As of October 21st, New Approach Missouri was on pace to reach its goal of collecting roughly 265,000 signatures.

A second medical cannabis initiative in Missouri has stated that it has already gathered over 150,000 signatures, and if so, appears to be on its way to making the 2018 ballot. A third medical cannabis initiative is also gathering signatures in Missouri with the goal of making the 2018 ballot. It is unclear how many initiatives will be on the ballot in Missouri, but at least one of them is likely to be successful in doing so if not all three.

3. Support for cannabis nationwide will likely continue to increase

Gallup has been asking adults in the United States the following question since 1969 as part of its annual poll:

“Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?”

The results from the original poll conducted in 1969 were depressing. Just 12% of poll participants answered ‘yes’ to the poll question. From the late 1980’s into the mid-2000’s support slowly climbed. In 2006 the number of poll participants that answered ‘yes’ to the poll question was 36%.

With only a couple of exceptions, support has grown significantly year after year in the poll. Gallup’s poll this year found a record 64% of poll participants answering ‘yes’ to the poll question. One fact from the poll that particularly raised eyebrows was the jump in support among Republicans from just the year prior. For the first time in the poll’s history, a majority of Republicans answered ‘yes’ to the poll question, reflecting a 9% jump compared to the year prior.

The increased level of support for cannabis legalization has been paralleled in the last decade by the rise of the cannabis industry. The cannabis industry used to be a cottage industry and so it was easier for cannabis opponents to downplay industry successes. With the cannabis industry now operating legally at the state level in a growing number of states, the benefits of a legalized and regulated cannabis industry are undeniable.

A voter does not have to be pro-cannabis use to be pro-cannabis reform. Twelve percent of Americans self-identified as being a current cannabis consumer according to a separate Gallup poll, with 45% of poll participants stating that they had consumed cannabis at some point in their life. That’s obviously less than the 64% that support legalizing cannabis. As legalization continues to succeed and the industry continues to increase in size, support will continue to grow among demographics that have historically opposed cannabis reform.

4. Adult-use cannabis sales will begin in California and Massachusetts, more than doubling the size of the industry

Right now adult-use cannabis sales are occurring in Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, Alaska, and Nevada. Adult-use cannabis sales are expected to begin in California on January 1st of next year and in Massachusetts in mid-2018.

The combined population of all five states that currently allow adult-use sales is roughly 20.6 million people. The combined population of California and Massachusetts is over 46 million people. When adult-use sales begin in California and Massachusetts, the size of America’s cannabis industry is going to grow exponentially, and not just because of the size of California and Massachusetts’ combined populations.

California is the number one tourist destination in America, and as such, it will generate a considerable amount of cannabis sales from people that are visiting from prohibition states.

Massachusetts does not have nearly the population size that California does, but it is essentially going to be a cannabis industry island surrounded by a sea of prohibition states. The only other state on the entire East Coast that has legalized cannabis for adult use is the state of Maine, which shows no indication of an adult-use framework going into place any time soon due to a veto of a cannabis industry regulation bill by its Governor this year. Even when Maine begins allowing the selling of cannabis for adult use, it will not have a significant impact on Massachusetts’ market.

Boston is going to be a top destination for cannabis tourism, with people flooding in from surrounding states and beyond to make legal cannabis purchases. California and Massachusetts have more than twice the population as Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, Alaska, and Nevada, but their combined cannabis industry market sizes are going to more than double the size of the current adult-use market.

5. Colorado’s cannabis industry growth will start to level out

Colorado has the distinction of being the first state in America to legalize cannabis, beating out Washington State by a couple of hours. Not surprisingly, Colorado is also the first state to allow sales of cannabis for adult use. Adult-use sales began in Colorado on January 1, 2014. Washington did not start adult-use cannabis sales until July 2014.

A substantial reason why Colorado was able to begin sales sooner than Washington State is that whereas Colorado already had a regulated system in place for its medical cannabis industry, Washington did not. Having the framework already in place for medical cannabis sales gave Colorado a big edge in getting its adult-use industry off the ground faster.

Since 2014, both states have sold a tremendous amount of cannabis, but Colorado is still looked at by many as the national leader for adult-use cannabis. Colorado’s industry has generated a tremendous amount of revenue for the state of Colorado via taxes and fees. Below is a year-by-year breakdown:

2014 – $67,594,323

2015 – $130,411,173

2016 – $193,604,810

2017 (Jan-Oct) – $205,080,035

If current trends persist in November and December of this year, Colorado will finish out 2017 with roughly 246 million dollars in taxes and fees generated. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that the rate of state revenue growth in Colorado is slowing down and at some point, it will level out. When that becomes the case there will be year-to-year fluctuations going forward, but exponential growth will cease to occur. This will be a mathematical trend that will occur in every state that legalizes cannabis and ramps up its legal cannabis industry until it reaches capacity.

That’s not to say that Colorado’s industry is hurting. Colorado’s industry is very strong by every measure. However, exponential growth is unsustainable in any state and any industry, and eventually, Colorado’s cannabis industry will hit its ceiling. 2018 could be the first year that we see this occur in Colorado, especially with California and Massachusetts coming onboard with adult-use cannabis sales.

Colorado’s industry may be leveling out, but it is still a glowing example of how cannabis can be legalized and a regulated industry can be implemented with no major issues. Other states will continue to look to Colorado as a standard to emulate, and Colorado will continue to generate enormous sums of cannabis taxes and fees that help fund many state programs.

6. FDA approval of Epidiolex

In late 2017 GW Pharmaceuticals (based in London) submitted an application with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval for a pharmaceutical drug called Epidiolex. Epidiolex is a medicine designed as a treatment for seizures associated with two Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome (two types of epilepsy).

Unlike Marinol, which is a synthetic cannabis-type medicine, Epidiolex is plant derived. Marinol received approval from the FDA and is currently scheduled as a Schedule III substance. If Epidiolex receives approval from the FDA, it could be on sale across America by the end of 2018. An answer as to whether GW Pharmaceutical’s application was approved or denied is expected sometime in mid-2018..

An approval by the FDA for Epidiolex would have a major impact on the emerging cannabis industry as well as future reform efforts. As previously stated in this article, a number of states have approved CBD-only laws. A big argument against such laws is that they do not help people that need to use CBD, in that they often do not provide legal ways to obtain CBD products. That would obviously change with an approval for Epidiolex.

Cannabis supporters could (and should) certainly argue that medical cannabis programs should provide protection and safe access to the entire cannabis plant and its derivatives. However, it will be a harder sell to lawmakers and voters that are hesitant to embrace more comprehensive medical cannabis reform.

Makers of non-pharmaceutical CBD products will have to compete on an uneven playing field if/when Epidiolex is approved. Whereas non-pharmaceutical companies cannot export their products across state lines, GW Pharmaceuticals will be able to sell Epidiolex in pharmacies across America. Also, doctors will be encouraged to promote Epidiolex to patients during doctor visits, which is something that rarely occurs for non-pharmaceutical cannabis products.

GW Pharmaceuticals would be prevented from promoting Epidiolex for any other conditions other than Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, but clinical trials are underway to test Epidiolex on other conditions. CBD has been found to treat all types of conditions from traumatic brain injuries to nausea.

It’s quite possible that Epidiolex could be prescribed for a number of conditions in the near future. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Epidiolex if approved, could become a ‘go to’ cannabis product across America, which would obviously have a huge impact on the cannabis industry.

7. The cannabis industry will become more crowded

For a long time, the cannabis industry operated in grey areas of the law. As such, one of the main ingredients for success was simply being willing to take the risk of starting a cannabis company. Demand for cannabis has always been strong, but for a number of years, supply was limited. Those days are gone in legal states.

The level of competition in the cannabis industry is now at a fevered pitch, and will only continue to increase in the future. Oregon is the top example when it comes to the increased level of competition in the cannabis industry. Oregon does not have residency requirements for cannabis business license approval and does not have a cap on the number of licenses issued (although there are industry bans in some parts of Oregon).

As of December 4, 2017, Oregon had received 3,178 applications for cannabis business licenses. 1,814 of those were for cannabis producer licenses. 733 of the applications were for dispensary licenses. More and more people are jumping into the cannabis industry every day, which is reflected in every Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) license statistical update, as the OLCC also regulates Oregon’s cannabis industry.

Other legal states have a higher barrier to entry than Oregon does and have various policies in place that help limit the number of licenses that are issued. But California, which is going to be the biggest state for the cannabis industry by far, will be like Oregon in that it will not have a cap on licenses. Competition is going to be fierce in California as a result. Many pundits are already predicting an oversaturation of supply in California.

Even in states that do have more stringent cannabis industry license approval criteria, competition is still very strong for the limited number of licenses that are up for grabs. In states that have a limited number of licenses, or plan to if/when cannabis becomes legal, application fees are very costly and with no guarantee of winning one or more licenses.

The cannabis industry is the fastest growing, sexiest industry on the planet right now so it should be no surprise that so many people want in on the action. As with all industries, there will come a point in the cannabis industry where competition becomes so strong that entrepreneurs get pushed out of the industry because they can’t compete.

But, unlike many other industries that have grown at an exponential rate, the cannabis industry does not appear to be ‘on a bubble.’ With only five states allowing adult-use sales right now, the industry has a tremendous amount of room left to grow in size. Opportunities for entrepreneurs will be abundant throughout 2018 and beyond.

8. Canada will legalize cannabis, and Canadian companies will continue their head start in the international cannabis market

Ever since Justin Trudeau was installed as Prime Minister of Canada, there has been a push towards cannabis legalization. Trudeau campaigned on a platform that included cannabis legalization, and a goal date of July 1, 2018 was set for Canada to end cannabis prohibition. A legalization bill has already been passed by Canada’s House of Commons late November 2017.

The Senate is expected to pass legalization as well, but nothing is guaranteed. With that said, it would be a dramatic development if legalization stalled in Canada’s Senate given the way legalization has been progressing with our Northern neighbor. Canada’s provinces will each regulate cannabis in their own way with some similarities and overlap.

Unlike the United States, Canada has a national medical cannabis industry already in place. The largest cannabis companies in Canada dwarf the largest cannabis companies in America, and with legalization on the horizon, large Canadian companies will likely continue to grow in size.

Canadian companies are not only beating American companies at the national level, they are also gaining a huge head start on the international market. Canadian cannabis companies now export products to Australia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Malta, and New Zealand. Plans are also underway for exports to begin in South Africa in the near future.

The combination of a nationally regulated industry and the ability to legally export cannabis products give Canadian companies a distinct advantage over companies in the United States. Canadian companies are not just focused on business at home and on other continents. They are also jumping into the United States market, which creates further competition in the American market. Expect this to continue throughout 2018.

9. The cannabis consumer experience will continue to evolve

It wasn’t that long ago that being able to visit a dispensary to purchase cannabis was considered revolutionary. The cannabis consumer experience has continued to evolve throughout this decade, and 2018 should be a particularly ripe year for a cannabis purchasing experience revolution.

Cannabis tourism is not a new phenomenon, but it has certainly become more of a ‘thing’ as more states have rolled out legal adult-use cannabis sales and cannabis-friendly lodging options have increased via companies like Airbnb. This will continue throughout 2018. California is the top tourist destination in America, and with adult-use sales beginning in early 2018, more tourists are going to be planning their vacations around the legal cannabis experience.

Just as cannabis tourism is set to ramp up in 2018 in America, so too will cannabis delivery services increase in 2018. Cannabis deliveries have existed for several years now in various legal states, but as time goes by it will become a very common thing in states that allow legal cannabis sales. Just as people regularly get pizza and Amazon orders delivered to their homes because of the convenience factor, the same will be true for cannabis.

This year, the cannabis industry witnessed the opening of the first cannabis drive-thru in America. A dispensary named Tumbleweed opened the country’s first drive-thru dispensary in Parachute, Colorado in April of 2017. The drive-thru building was previously a carwash, which is an ideal location due to legal requirements of cannabis transactions taking place out of public view. Other drive-thru locations have popped up in Colorado and Nevada, and that is something that we will likely see more of in 2018.

Social cannabis consumption is something that is likely to spread in 2018. Denver became the first city in America to pass a measure legalizing social cannabis consumption in 2016. The law was implemented in 2017, and the City of Denver is now accepting applications for venues that wish to allow on-site cannabis consumption. Other parts of Colorado along with California, Alaska, and Oregon are considering similar reform measures, with a good chance of passage occurring in 2018.

Massachusetts is the only state so far to adopt a regulatory framework for social use. At the end of 2017 the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission voted unanimously to approve rules that would allow on-site cannabis consumption at venues such as ‘cannabis cafes’ and spas. Social-use regulations in Massachusetts have to be finalized by mid-March (2018), with cannabis businesses expected to open in Massachusetts in July 2018.

10. The demand for craft cannabis industry will continue to increase in 2018

The cannabis industry was a cottage industry for a number of decades, as stated previously in this article. The transition to a robust regulated cannabis industry has been tough for many cannabis industry veterans, with some being able to navigate the turbulent waters better than others. With enormous sums of investment dollars flooding the industry, it is becoming increasingly difficult for small cannabis companies to operate.

But, that’s not to say that there is no demand for quality cannabis products produced by smaller companies, often referred to as ‘craft cannabis.’ The term ‘craft’ has been applied to many products throughout the years. The craft beer industry is the most akin to the craft cannabis industry.

It will be harder to measure the size of the craft cannabis industry compared to the craft beer industry because the definition of what constitutes craft cannabis is much less concrete than it is in the alcohol industry. The alcohol industry defines craft breweries based on brewery size, the percentage of ownership by actual brewers, and the volume of product produced. Similar standards have not been adopted by the cannabis community so far, but they will eventually, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see it happen in 2018.

Until last month, he was the top international anti-drug official in the U.S. Now he says it is likely that the federal government will have to reclassify marijuana as more states enact legalization.

“Let the experiment advance. Consider its positive and negative effects,” William Brownfield, who resigned only weeks ago as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said in a new interview.

“Let’s see how many other states advance in this direction because we are a democracy and for the moment we do not have a consensus position. In California, the most populous state, they voted for legalization, but in Texas, the second most populous state, they have not even wanted to consider it. When the conclusions are drawn, it is likely that substances may be reclassified.”

That’s a remarkable statement coming from someone who was in charge of representing the U.S.’s position in the global drug war for more than six years, as Brownfield was until a few weeks ago.

But even as he acknowledges it may soon be time for the government to remove marijuana from Schedule I — the most restrictive category in federal law, which is supposed to be reserved for substances with a high potential abuse and no medical value — don’t mistake Brownfield for an anti-prohibition activist.

“I am not a fan of legalization,” he said in the new interview with Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

Brownfield did acknowledge, however, that legalization is an “experiment that allows us to observe and learn.”

Even while citing traffic accidents and emergency room visits allegedly associated with cannabis, and arguing that local governments’ desire to generate revenue from legal marijuana sales “doesn’t seem like anything healthy,” he clarifies that he’s “not saying that [legalization] is a failure.”

“But,” he says, “I insist that we must be able to adjust policies to ensure that they do the least possible harm.”

Brownfield, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Venezuela and Chile during the Bush administration, made headlines in recent years by shepherding along a new U.S. posture on drugs under President Obama. While the country historically pressured other nations into maintaining a prohibition approach, that became more difficult once U.S. states started legalizing marijuana.

“How could I, a representative of the government of the United States of America, be intolerant of a government that permits any experimentation with legalization of marijuana if two of the 50 states of the United States of America have chosen to walk down that road?” Brownfield asked in 2014, when Colorado and Washington were the only states to have ended prohibition. That number has since quadrupled.

Also in the new interview, Brownfield sharply criticized comments his former boss, President Trump, made about Colombia’s role in the war on drugs.

Trump threatened to “decertify” the country as a partner in drug policy last month, a move that could have harsh consequences for fiscal aid and trade between the two nations.

To decertify Colombia would have been “a fundamental error, counterproductive, false, and very stupid,” Brownfield said, adding that it would be “nonsense, an insult, an insult to the hundreds of Colombians who have given their lives” in the drug war.

All Brownfield quotes in this story were automatically translated by Google and then cleaned up with the help of a few fluent Spanish speakers.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has created a website to keep the public updated on their process of preparing for the sale of legal cannabis by July 2018.

The website, lcbocannabisupdates.com, provides introductory information to the general public to help understand the steps the LCBO is taking to find the 40 initial cannabis store locations that the province has said they intend to have in place for legalization. The province intends to have 80 stores by 2019 and ‘up to’ 150 stores by 2020.

Although still short on specifics, the website contains a FAQ section that says the government plans to train all employees selling cannabis in the LCBO to know about the products and related safety information relating to them.

It also states that the Government of Ontario will be choosing locations for their first 40 stores with the goal of reducing the amount of illegal stores, “including dispensaries,” that are currently operating in Ontario.

Municipalities identified for a location will have an opportunity to have input in the process.

The age limit for consumption and possession in the province will be 19 and all cannabis sales will be through employees, not direct-to-customers sales, via traditional vending machines, for example.

So far, all the states that have legalized marijuana have done so through grassroots petitions and ballot initiatives meant to bypass risk-averse lawmakers in state houses.
California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia have all followed Colorado and Washington either to legalize the sale and use of recreational marijuana or, at a minimum, to decriminalize possession and consumption of small amounts of the drug.

But 2018 may be a tipping point — the moment when the momentum of pot makes it impossible for state lawmakers to avoid. State legislatures are poised to begin passing marijuana reform laws next year. The taboos against smoking dope may go up in a cloud of narcotic smoke.

Lawmakers must still juggle serious public safety issues, even as they eye what they hope will be new revenue streams from pot that they don’t want flowing to neighboring states.

Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey all devoted serious debate to this in 2017, and their state legislatures could send legislation to their governors next year to sign into law.

Vermont is the only state legislature to pass a legalization measure, although Democratic Gov. Phil Scott vetoed it.

With recreational use and sales opening within months in Canada and Massachusetts, neighboring states feel compelled to study and implement new public safety measures. Beyond that, however, lawmakers in these states are also emboldened by polls showing public support for recreational use.

Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Agency, believes 2018 could be a tipping point.

“What I was hoping was the rest of the states would say, ‘OK, we’ve got Washington, and we’ve got Colorado, let’s wait and see what happens so we can make an informed decision one way or the other,” said Gorman, whose Denver-based organization supports federal and local anti-drug policing. “Either it wasn’t as bad as the anti-marijuana folks said it was, or, ‘My God, this is disastrous, we don’t want this for our state.’”

But Gorman’s longtime adversary in the recreational legalization battle, Brian Vincente, an attorney who has been a leader in Colorado’s decades-long fight over legalization, thinks otherwise. “I think we’ve probably cleared the tipping point,” he told the Washington Examiner. “I think when California and Massachusetts came on board and legalized — I mean, California’s such a massively recognized global economy and Massachusetts, this puritanical, historic state — I think those two for me signaled that it’s the beginning of the end for prohibition.”

What develops next in pot policy is likely to be shaped by data from the early legalizers, Colorado and Washington, by how it is interpreted, by how legislatures respond to legalization as opposed to citizen ballot initiatives, and by whether the federal government will step in.

If Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey make moves, and even if only one or two other voter-based initiatives passed, fewer states would remain that didn’t share border with a state with legal marijuana. Some people thought Colorado and Washington were “experiments” and would remain highly quarantined, but it was an illusion.
Unreliable Data

Getting a clear “before and after” picture of the effects of legalized marijuana isn’t easy. Some experts have suggested that a comprehensive picture could take 20 years or more to become clear because data can be affected by so many other sociological factors.

“What I hear from Colorado is that, they say, you need to wait a couple years. Because the data sets right now are very immature and we don’t really know as much as we’d like to know,” said Vermont State Rep. Scott Beck, a Republican.

Beck’s concerns about “immature” data are well-founded. For example, one of the first comprehensive studies on the effects of legalization was published by the Colorado Department of Public Safety in March, 2016. It began with a strong caution:

“It is too early to draw any conclusions about the potential effects of marijuana legalization or commercialization on public safety, public health, or youth outcomes, and this may always be difficult due to the lack of historical data. Furthermore, the information presented here should be interpreted with caution. The decreasing social stigma regarding marijuana use could lead individuals to be more likely to report use on surveys and to health workers in emergency department and poison control centers, making marijuana use appear to increase when perhaps is has not.

“Finally, law enforcement officials and prosecuting attorneys continue to struggle with enforcement of the complex and sometimes conflicting marijuana laws that remain. Thus, the lack of pre-commercialization data, the decreasing social stigma, and challenges to law enforcement combine to make it difficult to translate these early findings into definitive statements of outcomes.”

Just four months before pot sales began in Colorado, Dr. Larry Wolk became the executive director and chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Wolk says he’s often in contact with officials from other states and other countries, and says the number one piece of advice he gives them is usually the same, and it is about data.

“Conceptually, stop thinking about this as a ‘starting from zero’ — you know, if it’s not legalized — to some dramatic number as a result of legalization,” Wolk said. “So recognizing, what’s the base use of marijuana amongst adults and kids.

In Colorado, public safety concerns have broken along two lines: Concerns about the effects on those underage, whether it’s direct use by teens or children being born with THC detectable in their systems, and concerns about public safety on the roads, mainly because of people driving while stoned.

Drugged driving

Perhaps nothing has confounded policymakers more than the inability to measure impairment due to marijuana use quickly in the same way a breathalyzer gauges a driver’s blood alcohol level, which is a reliable measurement of impairment. Not only does the absence of a similar testing tool make roadside analysis difficult for law enforcement, it also makes studying the issue murky as well.

Complicating those factors is the notion, which many experts say is incorrect, that marijuana “impairment” on driving can be measured like alcohol.

“Peak impairment does not occur when THC concentration in the blood is at or near peak levels,” a 2017 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted. THC is the active compound in marijuana responsible for its psychoactive effects. “Peak THC level can occur when low impairment is measured, and high impairment can be measured when THC level is low.”

A January release by the Colorado Department of Transportation noted that traffic fatalities were up 24 percent since 2014, the first year that recreational pot was legal. But the word “marijuana” never appeared in that release, and officials never singled out any overriding factors for blame. The same release noted that those figures came during a population boom and also said, “The rise in fatalities is part of a national trend. Fatalities are up nationally by about 8 percent.”

Beck says legislators in that state have struggled with what to do about drugged driving, absent any test similar to a breathalyzer.

“Now we’re basically talking about having officers doing ‘driving under the influence’ tests roadside, which is kind of a throwback to the ’70s and ’80s, ‘walk the line, touch your nose,’” Beck said.

“It’s subjective. How’s it going to fare in a court of law? How does an officer determine whether it’s alcohol, or THC, or some other substance? We have trained many people in the state to be drug recognition experts. But I don’t think we have enough of them that people are confident that we can identify all these people.”

Especially concerning to Beck is that Vermont will have to deal with an increase in drugged drivers whether or not the state decriminalizes marijuana because tit has drivers on its roads from Massachusetts and Canada, where dope will be legal.

Effects on underage people

Supporters of legalization in Colorado have promoted a pair of studies they say show no increase in teen usage.

The state’s “Healthy Kids Colorado” survey polls 17,000 youth. From 2013 to 2015, the percentage of youth who said they had used marijuana once in the last month inched up from 20 percent to 21 percent, and that 21 percent is comparable to the national average.

Even though there was an uptick from 20 to 21 percent over two years, scientists have said this isn’t “statistically significant.”

“There’s some corridor of variability or error when you do any kind of study,” Wolk explained, “and so the reason why we say not to make much of the small increase that occurred the one year which then actually was followed by a small decrease is that, that’s within the corridor of variability that … researchers say is what’s attributed to chance.”

The other study on teen use of marijuana showed a similarly small increase, but relied on a much smaller sample.

Opponents of legalization, meanwhile, highlight statistics from a Pueblo-based hospital showing about a third of all babies tested have shown a presence of THC in their systems.

Tom Tancredo served as a congressman from Colorado for five terms, and ran for president in 2008 on a hardline immigration stance. But he lent his name and voice to pro-legalization radio ads in the run-up to the 2012 vote. He says he’s lost friends over this and says he would also support legalization again. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that lawmakers must consider secondary effects. Babies born with THC in their systems are a prime example, he says.

“I think that that should be dealt with legally,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Because I believe that’s child endangerment. And I think people should go to jail for that. Again, I don’t care what you do to yourself, as an adult, but I certainly care what you do to those who are not.”

Wolk says there is no data that proves that a mother passing THC to her baby is doing more harm, or as much harm, a mother using alcohol or tobacco during pregnancy. The studies are lacking in part because the federal government’s labeling marijuana as a “Schedule 1” drug has prevented many labs from getting the strict permissions needed to do marijuana testing.

“We know enough to say there’s not a lot in the way of short-term or acute harm if a baby is born to a THC-positive mom, but there’s likely the potential that it does affect or impact the developing brain,” Wolk said.

“So, obviously, our policy statement based on all available research we have says that pregnant mothers and breast-feeding mothers should not be using marijuana, period.”
Taxation and competition

Some state lawmakers in Vermont and Rhode Island who support either decriminalization or retail legalization often suggest that part of the “inevitability” they feel about the issue is something akin to the “domino theory” from the Cold War era. Once a single region “falls,” then so do neighboring regions. It sets off a chain reaction that can’t be stopped.

There’s also a “funding paradox” for states looking at decriminalization as opposed to full-on commercial sales and legalization. If a state decriminalizes pot rather than legalizes it and collects revenue from taxing it, it feels it’s missing out on money for road safety and education and prevention programs for youth.

“In general, our state has no taxing capacity left to run our programs, to educate our children,” said Republican Vermont State Rep. Heidi Scheuermann. “Even [former] Gov. [Peter] Shumlin said that a number of years ago, and that’s still a fact.

“So, if we’re going to create new needs, as a result of — whether it’s decrim or legalization of marijuana, we’re going to have to find some revenue somewhere to do that.

“I don’t know if it has to be done all at once, though,” she added, noting that she’s depending on a study commissioned by the governor to draw conclusions and find solutions.

Other lawmakers appear to be succumbing to the fear of missing out.

“When Massachusetts goes to a tax-and-regulate structure next year, anybody who’s interested in accessing marijuana can easily go to Massachusetts,” said Rhode Island State Sen. Joshua Miller, referring not only to the way Colorado taxes pot sales, but also oversees virtually every detail regarding cultivation and distribution, which includes tracking every plant grown with its own barcode. “Then it becomes more of, the revenue is either going to be Massachusetts’ revenue or Rhode Island’s revenue. And those that think it’s a good idea or a bad idea have a different reality to also consider.”

Miller, a Democrat, compared the potential for new tax revenues through a tax-and-regulate structure to the expansion of state lotteries in the ’80s, or casino gambling in the ’90s. When neighboring states adopt the new revenue, other states find it hard to resist.

Competitive pressures come back to Colorado. Its pot revenues, such as they are, could deflate as soon as other states legalize. So a state can be left with the costs of marijuana legalization, but see its revenue hopes dashed.

“There’s three times as many people in Los Angeles as there are in the state of Colorado. Now that California has legalized marijuana, I do think they’re going to be taking the helm in a lot of ways,” Vicente said.

Those who have opposed all movements toward new leniency with marijuana say the taxation lure will remain a Faustian bargain.

“There has been some extra [tax] money, no doubt about it,” Gorman said. “Where we missed the boat is, what is it costing us, what are the societal costs? And if you look at alcohol and tobacco, and you say ‘highly taxed products,’ the taxes only cover about 10 to 12 percent of societal costs, that’s probably not a good investment. And we don’t know that yet with marijuana. But we will down the road. And if we use illegal drugs as an example, we’d have to say the odds are it’s not going to be a good investment for us.”

The federal void

All of this state action comes in a broad federal void. Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ dislike of liberalizing of marijuana laws, little action has come from the Department of Justice to roll back activities by states.

Sessions sent a letter to Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in August asking him how the state was responding to a report of increases in traffic deaths, youth consumption, and emergency room visits.

The response came not only from the Colorado governor, but the state’s Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (popular in her party for joining a lawsuit against the EPA’s Clean Power Plan). She and Hickenlooper vigorously defended the state’s marijuana laws, telling Sessions, “When abuses and unintended consequences materialize, the state has acted quickly to address any resulting harms.”

Don Murphy, director of conservative outreach for the Marijuana Policy Project, a lobbying organization dedicated to ending marijuana prohibition, says the quick adoption of recreational marijuana by other states is pushing the federal government into a corner.

“The states don’t care anymore what the federal government says or doesn’t say. And so, they’re just moving along doing their own thing,” Murphy said.

Elected officials at the federal level seem uninterested in diving into the issue. The Washington Examiner reached out to representatives on Capitol Hill from Rhode Island, Vermont, and Michigan (where a ballot issue could appear in 2018), and none would comment.

Still, the nation will get a clear preview of just how far legal pot may go, and how willing states are to continue to challenge federal laws, when voters cast ballots in New Jersey this November. Voters there will choose a successor to long-time marijuana foe Gov. Chris Christie. The candidates there have drawn a clear distinction between themselves. The Democratic candidate is ready to work on loosening the state’s marijuana laws, and the Republican candidate is firmly opposed.

The legislative hurdle appears to be the most comprehensive test for supporters of legalization. If elected representatives and senators in any of these states can find compromise on a bill, and if a governor of a state feels he or she can sign such a bill into law, then supporters of legalization believe the fight against marijuana prohibition will effectively be over.

“We’re at the precipice of actually legalizing it, I believe,” said New Jersey State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, a leading advocate for adopting a retail structure based on Colorado’s. “So, we might as well be at the head of the pack instead of at the rear, like we have been on so many other issues.”

The budding marijuana industry is spurring new research around cannabis that will have long-term effects on a variety of fields, from farming to new medicine, as companies look for solid scientific data on the substance.

With the looming legalization of recreational pot next summer, and the expansion of licensed medical marijuana producers, scientists at the University of Guelph say more organizations are turning to researchers for help growing better plants.

The Ontario university has a long horticultural research history and some of its staff and students are already deep into the study of medicinal marijuana.

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On Friday, a team of two environmental science professors and a graduate student published a research paper — one they called the first of its kind and the first of many to come — about optimizing the growth of medicinal cannabis indoors.

The study looked at the rate of organic fertilizer in soilless products holding cannabis before it flowered and the optimization of tetrahydrocannabinol — the primary psychoactive part of cannabis — and cannabidiol, which has been touted as a potential treatment for certain forms of epilepsy.

“There is hardly any scientific information on how to produce these plants and now there is so much interest in this area,” said Youbin Zheng, who led the study funded by a licensed medical marijuana producer as well the federal government.

Words such as “OG kush” and “grizzly” — types of marijuana strains — have now appeared in a scientific journal, this time in HortScience, and there’s more to come.

Zheng and fellow professor Mike Dixon have a series of studies in the pipeline that examine the effects of irrigation, lighting, fertilization and soilless technology on cannabis growth as they try to bring scientific rigour to marijuana research.
Building on anecdotal evidence

Dixon is blunt when reflecting on the current cannabis research landscape.

“Much of the work now is largely based on anecdotal bulls–t from people who think they have it all figured out and did all their research in their basements,” he said.

The idea now, he notes, is to take the medicinal marijuana world from the backwoods to pharmaceutical-grade production.

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Dixon has been part of pioneering research into the growth of plants in space and is using that knowledge and technology to help grow better medicinal marijuana. He plans to leverage the windfall of research money coming in from cannabis companies for his work.

“The bottom line is we’re developing technologies that will allow Canadians to exploit production systems in harsh environments.”

Molecular complexity

Marijuana production companies — there are more than 60 approved by Health Canada now — need a “huge number of trained scientists,” Zheng noted.

Then there are the potential medical applications associated with marijuana — there are more than 150 compounds found in cannabis that need to be explored, Dixon said.

Another big area is vertical farming — where crops are grown in stacks in vast warehouses with artificial lighting, either in solution or with soilless products — that can allow cold-climate countries to grow food year round, Dixon said.

The results of research on marijuana — driven by interest from the cannabis industry — could be applied to other areas, he explained.

“The funding isn’t coming from food, which has the lowest possible margin as a commodity, but pharmaceuticals,” Dixon said.

“But we can use this research to develop life-support technology, as in food, which can become an economic engine for a country like Canada that will carry us for the next 300 years.”

The dean of the Ontario Agricultural College, at the University of Guelph said the cannabis industry is also expected to help draw new students to the school’s programs.

“One of our greatest challenges is recruiting people into our programs because people typically don’t understand the fact that agriculture and food are high-tech, high-growth sectors and demand an awful lot of people for really interesting careers,” said Rene Van Acker.

“The cannabis industry is doing us a favour by drawing a lot of attention to the sector and drawing attention to the fact it is a high-skill, high-tech area.”

Onerous regulations appear to be negatively impacting the cannabis business growth in Canada.

Specifically, current organizational structures may be too strict to allow production to meet demand for cannabis oils and extracts. While the number of applications for cannabis licensing continues to climb, many entrepreneurs are skipping the step of extraction, presumably in a move to limit potential liabilities by keeping initial operations to the basics of production and distribution.

Tyler Nvquvest of Business Vancouver cited a recent Health Canada report which shows a growth in the cannabis oil sector of more than 871% between April 2016 and March 2017, and pointed out the overall lack of cannabis oil production licenses – only 18 of the 51 licenses granted by Canadian authorities include a plan to produce and sell oil:

“‘The way the system is set up is that it is a complete seed-to-sale license,’ said Mondin. ‘If you want to process oils, you are forced to cultivate [marijuana].’

“…’When you look at consumption trends in the U.S. and use [them] as predicators to Canada, the prediction is that consumption of extracted oil and oil-based products is going to increase 198,000% over the next five years,’ Mondin said.”
While Canada is currently losing out on the cannabis oil market due to regulatory hurdles, that will likely change in the near future. Over regulation and supply chain bottlenecks have temporarily plagued other marijuana markets, but the cannabis community is creative and persistent and elected officials like tax dollars. We can expect advocates and politicians to work out some common sense solutions, especially as legalization becomes more mainstream in Canada.

Keep up with the latest in Canada’s cannabis business development! Join the International Cannabis Business Conference in Kauai, Hawaii on December 1-3, 2017, and Vancouver, British Columbia in June 24 and 25, 2018.

If you’re looking for a quick answer, cannabis Indica is more of a sedating high, while cannabis sativa is more uplifting/energizing.

Or, so we’re told.

But then you have experts like, Jeffrey Raber P.h.d, that claim the difference between indica and sativa is simply morphology, and that there is no difference in the highs.

Well, which one is it?

Do the fancy names and classifications matter?

Let’s take a look at indica vs sativa vs hybrid to find out.

What Is Indica?
Indica plants are use to growing in much harsher environments than their sativa counterparts.

Having to adapt to the cold and turbulent conditions of the kush mountain regions, indica evolved to be dense, short and stubby.

They also evolved to produce thick THC resin to help protect itself from its environment.

Indicas also naturally have high levels of CBD, making them a favorite of many looking for a pain-killing cannabis strain.

What Is Sativa?
The scraggly cousin of indica, sativa, is different from indica, not only in appearance but also in the effects it has on your body, its THC to CBD ratios, cannabinoids and terpenes.

Sativa is often paired with coffee thanks to its naturally uplifting properties.

The plants grow to be tall and lean with leaves that have a thinner face, very much unlike the typical indica marijuana leaf you see plastered all over bongs and grinders at festivals.

The Difference Between Indica and Sativa
There are two camps when it comes to the differences between indica and sativa: those who boldly claim that all indica and sativa give you a certain high and those starting to test and see if it boils down to more than just the different species of the same genus.

After all, some sativa cannabis can give you the “indica” high, and the same goes vice versa.

But we’ll dive more into this research in just a bit.

For now, let’s take a look at the differences that we know.

Geographic Origin

Indica
First named in 1785 by, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Indica was named after where the plants were collected—India.

I briefly mentioned earlier that indica evolved in the kush mountains.

More specifically, it grew wild in the areas between 30° and 50° latitudes.

This climate is susceptible to intense, cold winter and warm summers.

Sativa
Sativa was named earlier than indica, 1753, and was first thought to be the only species of cannabis.

Being subject to the harsh heat of these areas, sativa evolved to be long and lanky to conserve water.

Leaf Shape
Thankfully, you don’t have to do chemical composition tests to tell the species apart.

You can easily tell the difference between indica and sativa by their leaf shape.

Indica leaves are broad and thicker.

More akin to the prototypical marijuana leaf you see everywhere.

Sativa leaves, on the other hand, are skinny and scraggly like the rest of the plant.

You won’t have any luck using this method to identify a hybrid, though.

They can have a mix of the two or one or the other.

Sativa vs Indica High
The biggest reason we want to compare the two most important cannabis genus is to help get the kind of high or symptom relief we are looking for.

And, while the debate is still ongoing about whether it’s the species of the plant or the terpenes/cannabinoid make up of a plant that determines this, we can still look at the ways we commonly categorize the two different plants.

The Effect
Indica
Cannabis indica will generally give you a more relaxed, body high.

The calm, sedating effects are ideal for when you’re looking to chill out after a long day, binge-watch Netflix or sleep.

It’s also known to enhance sensations such as sound, taste and touch.

Sativa
Sativas tend to be more of a cerebral, energized high that can lead to an increase in creativity and a more psychedelic high.

This high is perfect for anyone looking to smoke early in the day without feeling like a zombie the rest of the day.

It’s also a great high for reading, writing and making art.

Symptom Relief
Just wanted to drop another disclaimer here before we look at the symptoms a particular genus can help with.

The result will vary from strain to strain, and this should just be used as a general guideline to help you in the right direction.

Indica
Relieving pain
As a muscle relaxer
Headaches and migraines
Insomnia
Seizures
Sativa
As an energy boost
Problems focusing
Mood disorders such as depression
Mild aches and pains
Which one has more THC?
Now, thanks to the advancement in breeding were able to achieve cannabis plants with up to 51% THC.

That’s crazy.

But what about when we just look at pure strains?

Well, one study has, and they found that, on average, indica strains tend to be significantly higher in not only THC but CBD as well.

The big flaw with this study is that it only looked at six different strains.

Leafy.com has over 720 indica strains and 1177 sativa strains as of 2017, and the number is only going to keep on growing.

We need a bigger picture and thanks to data that’s being collected by cannabis testing labs I’m sure we’ll get it.

The Differences in Growing
Where you are really able to tell the difference between indica and sativa is when you are growing them side by side.

Never will you be able to see such definitive differences.

Indica vs Sativa Buds
Indica buds are dense, and they also tend to condense themselves in clusters around the nodes.

The buds internodal gaps are almost non-existent.

Indica buds are known for being the buds with the strongest odor too.

With sativa buds, It’s pretty common to have a reddish hue when grown in warm environments and purple when grown in colder climates.

They also are far more spread out on the branches.

You can expect them to weigh less than indica after drying because they are less dense buds.

Plant Height
Indica strains are the best cannabis strains to grow indoors.

Commonly growing to be 3 to 6 feet tall they make the perfect plant for closets or grow tents that have a defined ceiling.

You can grow Sativa indoors, but be prepared to fight it and do some extensive plant training.

Believe it or not, sativa cannabis can grow up to 20 feet tall.

Many breeders like to mix indica into sativa strains to try and tame this height.

Flowering Time & Yield Size
Indica cannabis has a much faster flowering time than sativa coming in at between 8 to 9 weeks.

This is even faster than autoflowering plants that are usually around ten weeks.

It’s not just the fast flowering time that makes indica a favorite of many growers.

They also boast larger yields.

Sativa plants will usually flower between 12 to 14 weeks making them the longest flowering species of all.

The fact that most sativa plants take longer to grow and yields less has made breeders insert some of those traits into indica strains to get a better-growing plant while maintaining a sativa high.

And that brings us to our next topic—hybrids.

What is a Hybrid Strain?
Hybrid strains aren’t new to the cannabis scene.

As master breeders began the search for the perfect cannabis, they started to selectively pick traits from various indica and sativa strains creating hybrids of the two.

Hybrids can fall into any of three categories:

Sativa-dominant Hybrids
Indica-dominant Hybrids
50/50 Hybrids
Hybrids can be the best of both worlds.

Let’s look at one of the most popular hybrid strains of all time—Blue Dream.

This combination gives you a relaxed body while also giving you a light head high—creating a perfect, calm euphoria.

A hybrid strain like this can provide quick symptom relief all while avoiding the sedative side effects.

Popular Hybrid Strains
Hybrids are a lot of smokers favorite because you can blend the many effects from different cannabinoid profiles.

Here are some of the most popular hybrid strains:

Blue Dreams
OG Kush
Pineapple Express
White Widow
AK-47
Indica Strains
Although there’s a lot of strains with no rhyme or reason to their names, a lot of indica strains take up the moniker, Kush, after the Kush Mountains from which they were born.

But, it’s thanks to them and breeding that we’ve made huge strides in growing cannabis.

First identified in 1924, cannabis ruderalis was discovered in southern Siberia by the botanist, Janiszewski.

While studying cannabis, he happened across these plants that showed a more weedy growth compared to other strains.

This new species was smaller than the others—hardly ever growing taller than two feet.

And it reached flowering much quicker than either indica or sativa—only 5-7 weeks after seed.

Sativa and indica lean on a photoperiod to determine when it starts flowering, while ruderalis depends solely on the maturity of the plant.

This means while you can keep an indica or sativa plant in vegetative stage indefinitely by keeping your grow lights on long cycles, ruderalis will ignore the light cycle completely and start flowering.

Master growers have taken advantage of this to create autoflowering seeds that dramatically reduce the time it takes to harvest a particular strain.

More weed in less time is never a bad thing.

It’s not just the flowering time breeders use ruderalis for.

They are hardy and shorter than the other species, so they are often used to help curb the crazy heights of sativa.

But, that’s not all ruderalis is good for.

While they may be low in THC, they make up for it in CBD.

Some medical cannabis users grow ruderalis for the CBD, and some breeders use this genetic trait to create CBD heavy strains.

Conclusion
When it comes to indica vs sativa a lot is still unknown.

We need more studies done on the different effects of the two, so we can provide a better experience for recreational users and better medical care for medical users.

Hopefully, with states legalizing marijuana, we will start to see real progress made that will tell us if it’s the strains or the cannabinoids and terpenes that we need to focus our attention on to make the best cannabis we can.

Did I miss any differences between indica and sativa?

Can you tell the difference in highs?

If so, let me know in the comments below!
Sourced from www.thcoverdose.com

Yes, You Need a Prescription for Medical Marijuana At Work and This Controversial Logging Case Proves Why

Although there is little case law on medical cannabis use in the Canadian workplace, there are a few cases that can guide both employees and employers on this topic.

Last week, we looked at the case of a man who was fired for using marijuana to relieve back pain and migraine headaches. Today we will examine the case of French vs. Selkin Logging.

In 2014, John French was an equipment operator for Selkin Logging in northern British Columbia and used cannabis to treat pain from cancer. He had spoken with his doctor about cannabis as a treatment but did not have a valid medical cannabis prescription. French was caught smoking cannabis at work and Selkin Logging enacted their zero tolerance drug policy requiring he stop consuming cannabis in the workplace. French was subsequently terminated for breach of this policy.

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found that Selkin Logging was enacting the drug policy on the appropriate grounds – that an impaired equipment operator in the logging sector could be a serious safety risk. However, the Tribunal cautioned against zero tolerance drug policies saying “strict application of the zero tolerance rule, without consideration of accommodation, may offend the Code in circumstances where the individual may be legitimately using marijuana for medical purposes.”

Although the Tribunal found that the drug policy was enacted in good faith, they also stated that French’s termination was discriminatory because he was fired for using cannabis to alleviate the pain of a disability.

In the end, the termination was upheld because French did not hold a valid medical cannabis prescription.
What went wrong?

In the absence of a medical marijuana prescription, French was using cannabis illegally. He had talked with his doctor about using it to treat the symptoms of his cancer, but the doctor had not prescribed it or condoned its use at work. Human Rights legislation does not extend to requiring an employer to accommodate illegal drug use.
Takeaways

Employers that have a zero tolerance drug policy that does not address accommodation for medical cannabis may breach human rights legislation. Employees must have a valid cannabis prescription to be protected by Human Rights legislation. Employers are not required to accommodate illegal cannabis use.

This article was originally published on Civilized. View it here. January 20, 2016